Automated chemical analyzers are used to test samples of some fluids or other substances for the presence or absence of certain compounds or other chemical agents. For example, automated analyzers are frequently used to test a sample of a fluid from a patient (e.g. a blood or urine sample) for the presence of certain antibodies. In many instances, the test is for a specific antibody and a standard test using a predefined series of reagents is employed. In other instances, though, it may be desirable to be able to perform a series of tests for a variety of antibodies on a single sample.
Reagents for these automated tests are commonly provided in a pack of reagents, with each reagent pack having all of the reagents necessary for conducting a specific test. If the number of assays which can be performed is relatively limited, this can work well in an automated system. However, space for storing the reagent packs, which frequently must be refrigerated to maintain the viability of the reagents, in the analyzer is frequently at a premium due to the desire to keep the size of such analyzers to a minimum.
In many instances, a series of assays will have one or more reagents in common. One could include that same reagent with each reagent pack for such assays, but that would tend to take up needless space in the analyzer. However, in some cases, the assays tend to share most of the reagents in common and only one reagent solution need vary between different assays. For example, in allergy assays used to determine whether certain allergen antibodies are present in a sample, much of the reagents will remain the same from one allergen assay to the next, with only the specific allergen being tested varying between the tests.
As the number of reagent packs which can be stored in the analyzer is usually limited due to space constraints, providing a separate reagent pack for each allergen takes up a great deal of space and makes testing a sample for a series of allergens inconvenient and reduces the variety of other assays requiring different reagents which can take place at the same time, affecting the throughput of the analyzer.